Nursery closing early Xmas eve and still paying

[purplehairrinse]

Aibu for being annoyed they are charging the whole day but we have to collect before 12?

Because your contract will tell you about what you pay and if it’s spread out

i mean surely you realise that?

intelligence and all that

MN is always very obtuse and actually I would say cruel on threads about nurseries. It’s as a punishment for having the temerity to use one. Of course, SAHMs also get an earful.

I agree with the OP. Unfortunately Christmas Eve isn’t a public holiday and people do have to work. I accept a lot of places are winding down but if you work in retail or the NHS or catering or anything like they it’s going to be super busy!

In a world where people don't seem to think they need to read the contracts they are signing this is entirely on them.

I think it's cheeky to charge if they aren't open.

I used to work as an engineer and always had to work 24th December until 4pm. Having that day off as holiday required negotiation and wasn't always an option, so if I couldn't take the holiday, I would have to take unpaid family leave.

The nursery we used did not open on Christmas even, so one of us had to either take holiday or unpaid leave to cover it, but the nursery did not charge for this day as it's not a bank holiday.

Reframe it op. That afternoon is being paid for out of your free 15 or 30 hours so it hasn’t cost you a penny?🤷‍♀️

Whether or not it’s unreasonable completely depends on what the contract that you have agreed to says.

What would be a clincher for me is when you were told about this. Our Christmas leave requests have to be in by the end of September and we find out 2 weeks later what days we have been granted. If nursery hadn’t told us of these plans before the leave requests needed to be in I would have been completely scuppered.

It’s half a day. You’re being petty

I agree with you, OP.

it was a long ttime ago, but our nursery tried to charge us for the ENTIRE Christmas Eve when they decided to close.

parents challenged and they backed down.

Christmas Eve is not a Bank Holiday. If you’re working, you’re working. You are not being unreasonable.

I wouldn’t be happy but unless you manually want to adjust your invoice like the previous poster did then what else can you do? It will only sour the relationship with the nursery - is there other local options for childcare or is this the only one? I generally found nurseries and childminders to be a cartel who banded together to extort parents and force on them contracts which were pretty unfair and got away with it due to the pressure for childcare spaces

Half day for whom? Because work it's a full day for me. I'm being charged a full day nrusry fees (they charge half day easily)

If you worked in a shop for minimum wage they would deduct your pay. AAnd probably sack you also

Finishing at 12 would mean I needed to book the whole day as leave.

I can understand them shutting early, but id be a bit miffed at the time. Even 1pn would mean I could do it with a half day leave (and in my old job actually no leave, as we all got kicked out early)

I have on many occasions. And that's Xmas DAY not Xmas eve. Xmas eve. is a normal working day

Even if it means they lose their job and become homeless because they can't pay the bills?

Why though? You pay hourly/daily for a service and the service isn’t being provided. Why should you pay?

Because those are the terms you've agreed to (if your contract says so).

Nurseries need to facilitate holidays for their staff. There are a few ways of doing this - paying upfront for them is one. Paying more per hour is another.

Mate, the terms aren't that they close early and I pay a full day..... They have invoiced me for the day so the nursery is open.

Mate they are a business..... What don't you understand. Shall I get your nail tech to walk out and not finish your nails on my?

Mate, you agree terms when you sign the contract. What aspect of that do you not understand?

Ffs just read your contract.

Contracts can say whatever they want, it doesn’t make them legal. ‘we will close whenever we feel like it and you still have to pay’ isn’t reasonable or fair by most standards!

Of course they shouldn't parents for time that the nursery is actually closed! Parents pay a small fortune for nursery. Some parents pay almost as much as their own salary to send their children to nursery. It's not something most parents can just afford to write off.

Obviously that won't be the wording. It'll be about how they handle staff holidays and how they are financed.

Regardless, the OP did sign it. So she is on the hook for whatever she agreed to. Her other option is to live her child somewhere else.

It's not relevant what percentage of their income parents pay. Terms are agreed and therefore need to be adhered to.

How privileged to be in a position where, not only does that money not matter to YOU, but you are unable to even imagine it mattering to someone less well-off than yourself 😳